The Battle for Tritonia
Summary After failing in their mission to assassinate a Dwarven leader on Rhodar, Centurion Lief, Legionnaires Tempis and Lumen, and the human Mr. Gerrin were sent by Elder Silas to the backwater planet of Tritonia, to investigate the disappearance of an Elven archaeologist, Belamwe, who had discovered an ancient Elven city beneath the waves. The Journey to the Sunken City The party arrived on Tritonia through the portal network, and were greeted by the governor of the Elven outpost on Tritonia, Amele, a victim of Lief's past womanising, and a former student of Mr. Gerrin. Amele directed the party to the Triton markets on the main island, suggesting that they would be able to find passage to the sunken city. The party traveled to the markets, and were able to barter for passage to the Elven city. The party proceeded to take to the seas and travel to a remote Triton village, where they intended to pick up supplies for the rest of the journey. Along the way, they encountered Triton pirates, who assaulted their ship before being fought off by the party, with a single survivor escaping. On board the pirate's ship, the party found a treasure map, indicating the location of a buried treasure on the sea-floor, in the Kelp Forest. The ship continued on to the Triton village, where the Triton crew picked up a large, mysterious cargo. This was later revealed to be a glowing blue crystal, which the Tritons could interface with to allow the ship to travel beneath the surface of the water, encased in a shimmering shield holding the water at bay. The party convinced the Triton crew to make a detour to the kelp forest, where they fought off mind squid (losing several crew in the process), and recovered the pirates' treasure: a large amount of gold, and stinging jellyfish whip. The ship and party then made their way on to the sunken city. Lief and Gerrin passed the time sparring, delighting some of the younger Tritons on board the ship, in particular a small Triton boy who seemed particularly taken with Gerrin. A large predatory beast was encountered along the way, with several more of the Triton crew being lost. The evening after this occurred, the party was ambushed by a mutinous crew, intent on preserving themselves by getting rid of the party. The mutineers were unsuccessful, and the remaining crew continued to take the ship on, under the watchful eyes of their Elven masters. The ship arrived at the sunken city with no further interruption, and made their way to the sea floor, and the edge of the city on the ocean shelf. A Tale of Two Cities The party left the ship and began to make their way down one of the main six thoroughfares of the ancient Elven city, between the Light and Dark districts. Along the way, they encountered murderous sharks, and a large coral-overgrown area, infested with sea worms. After fighting off the worms, the party saw, in the distance, their Triton ship coming under attack by Triton pirates, who chased the ship away into the distance. The party proceeded to the fallen Elven citadel, and inside found the remains of the archaeological party's camp, and signs of the group pushing deeper into the stronghold. The party headed down, deeper into the citadel, and discovered a large stone room, with huge runed chains and broken shackles, that appeared to have once held a being of great power. Unbeknownst to the party, this room had once held the Essence of Water, before ancient Tritons had assaulted the city, and freed him. The party found the archaeologist holed-up in an adjacent room, where he had been surviving by eating the remains of one of his fallen Elven guards. Belamwe, it turned out, had been hiding from Prince Sagnus and his contingent of Triton guards, who at this point ambushed the party, Sagnus engaging with Lief in an unfair and one-sided duel, before the party was bound and taken on the magical transportation of the Tritons to a hidden underwater city in the deep ocean. On their way there, the party saw the recused Triton crew from their ship, and Gerrin gave a young Triton boy a beautiful seashell he had found. The party was taken to an audience with King Menolid, King of the Tritons, who explained that their civilisation had hidden here beneath the waves for thousands of years, avoiding the might and power of the Elven Empire. The party could not be allowed to leave and reveal the secret of the hidden city, and so were imprisoned beneath the King's palace. The Betrayal of Nautilus (Bonus Mission) The Great Escape During their imprisonment, the party saw Prince Silf and Waxillion being taken to their own cells in the prison, to await execution for travelling to the forbidden island. The two groups bantered for a time, until a key to Silf's cell was smuggled to him by a loyal guard, who did not want to see the Prince executed. At the same time, the same young Triton boy reappeared, with a key to Mr Gerrin's cell, hidden in some bread. Silf, Waxillion and Gerrin exited their cells, and Tempis bargained with Silf to help Gerrin let them out of their cells, on the condition that he would give the Prince a fragment of the Essence of Water that he had found in the stone chamber under the Elven city. Silf agreed, and he, Waxillion and Gerrin were able to free the remainder of the party, who then moved out into the wider Triton city in disguise. Still bound with magic-dampening handcuffs, Silf and the party proceeded to the Triton markets, where they visited a blacksmith that Silf knew. The blacksmith aided the party in removing their bonds, but was shocked when Lief briefly allowed him to see his blue, Elven eyes behind his disguise. The blacksmith raised the alarm, and the party were forced to fight their way out of the shop, aided by Tritons loyal to Silf, who held off the guards while the Prince and the party escaped. In the melee, Tempis forced Silf to give up the fragment of the Water Essence, and Silf was forced to leave without it. The party waited until nightfall, and proceed to the military district to attempt to procure a military transport to escape. Unbeknownst to them, however, they were followed, and the guard on the military base was tripled to prevent their entry. The party instead returned to the market district, intending to stow aboard a larger merchant vessel. The markets were closed off as the city guard, under the direction of Prince Sagnus arrived, and the party were forced to take off from the city in the ship they had found, as guards began to board, searching for them. A great chase proceeded, as the Tritons desperately attempted to shoot down the large vessel, while guards on board tried to neutralise the party. In a daring move, Lief tricked a large Triton golem into smashing the front window of the ship, flooding it, as the party used Seals of Draining they had found previously to clamber out to the top of the ship. Tempis had previously teleported to a smaller Triton fighter, killing the pilot, and provided the getaway vehicle, as the larger ship lost power and began plummeting to the ocean floor. Lumen was badly wounded in the leg as the party made their escape, the Tritons ships pulling away as the party approached the great Elven fleet that had arrived on Tritonia. The Siege of Tritonia On board High Elder Gravar's ship, the Imperator, Lumen's wounds were tended to, his leg replaced with a finely-crafted Elven prosthetic. The party was given new instructions from the High Elder himself, as the Imperator and a large proportion of the great Elven Navy began to encircle the underwater Triton city. Gravar had instructed High Mage Gavilar to transport the Essence of Fire aboard the Imperator, and the power of the Essence was imbued into Lief in a dramatic ritual. As the Elven battle mages parted the water of the ocean, and began to rain fire on the Triton city, the party and Lief were instructed to find the location of the Essence of Water, and use new chains, forged by Dwarves under the instruction of the Elven Elders, to recapture it. Unknown to Lief however, Tempis and Lumen were given additional instructions: to ensure that Lief did not return after his task was complete. The Elders considered it too dangerous to allow an Elf, channeling the power of the Essence of Fire herself, to be allowed to live. To aid them in this task, Tempis and Lumen were provided with a rune-engraved sword, bow and arrows. The party dropped from the Imperator onto the besieged city, engaging with several Triton guards at their landing point, before continuing on to the great Aguan Church, in the hope of finding clues regarding the Water Essence's whereabouts. Upon arriving there, they discovered King Menolid in the great pool beneath the visage of the Great Kraken, cradling the body of Silf, presumed killed during the siege. The King expressed his rage at the party and the Elves, for destroying all that his family had protected under the ocean for all these years. He then presented himself before Lief, who expressed his regret at the necessity of destroying the Triton people, before slaying King with his Fire-infused blade. In the Elven outpost, meanwhile, in a desperate last ploy of the Tritons, an elite team infiltrated the Elven outpost and succeeded in destroying the portals leading to Ulandar, preventing any further reinforcements from arriving on Tritonia. Reading the ancient coral texts stored in the library, the party discovered the legendary location of the Essence of Water, in a cave at the end of a deep trench that cut away from the sunken Elven city. According to the ancient stories, upon being freed, the Water essence plowed through the crust of Tritonia, burying itself deep under the ocean floor, never to have returned. The party made their way to the market district of the Triton city without incident, stealing away aboard a small vessel to make their way to this dark trench. Meanwhile, on the water's surface above, the Elven Navy clashed with Prince Sagnus leading the Triton forces, as the bombardment of the Triton capital continued. The Emancipation of Water Making their way down into the underwater trench, the party discovered the same blue-glowing crystals they had seen utilised so extensively in Triton magic, scattered on the walls and floor of the trench. Also in the trench were small shelled creatures who fed off the energy emitted by the crystals. These creatures began to drain the party's ship of power, before Tempis was able to dislodge them with some ingenious teleporting. This turned out to be fortunate, as the party exited the trench and entered the cave at its deepest point, they saw an enormous form moving through the trench, towards where they had almost been stranded. As the party proceeded into the cave, they found it turned upwards, opening into a huge air-filled cavern underneath the ocean floor. Inside the cavern, they discovered a mock-up of the Triton city, constructed as if by a child out of stone and mud, with various building and decorations noticeably out-of-proportion and inaccurate. Whilst traversing the city towards an opening in the other side of the cavern, Tempis was contacted by a dark whisperer, speaking directly into his mind. This was quickly identified as the voice of The Darkness, as the party were set upon by dark shades, unable to be harmed by mundane or even magical weaponry. Only the tools provided to Tempis and Lumen to subdue Lief, and Lief's Fire channeling were able to drive off the shades. The party proceeded deeper into the caverns, discovering a large tunnel full of gold, jewellry, shells, and various other "treasure". Arriving in a second large cavern, the party found several wrecked ships on the sandy floor, in between piles of treasure, all before a large pool of water, in which could be seen the very tip of a titanic tentacle. Also on the sand was a large wooden table, set out like one would expect at a child's tea-party, with the skeletons of various Tritons seated in clothes around the table. Moments later, the Triton child that the party had encountered several times before arrived in the cavern, and sat down at the table, engaging in idle, childish talk with the party, with only mild interest in their presence. Realising that this child was the Essence of Water, Lief moved to attack him, as Waxillion and a group of Triton guards arrived in the cavern. A climatic battle ensued, with the Tritons attempting to aid the Essence of Water while Tempis and Lumen moved to intercept them. The Essence of Water very nearly got the better of Lief, almost drowning him in the pool of water at the back of the cavern. The large beast in the pool, now identified as the Essence's pet, rather than the Essence itself, moved out of the cavern to engage the Elven fleet on the surface. In the cavern, Gerrin tried earnestly to convince the Water Essence that fighting was not the answer, and succeed in distracting him for a moment. With the opportunity to bind the essence in front of him, however, Lief hesitated, and in frustration, Tempis fired the runed bow he had been given by Gravar, at the Water Essence. Unknown to him however, Gerrn knew about the bow, and had taken an opportunity on the ship to re-notch the bow, causing the arrow to miss its mark and strike Lief instead. Lief feel instantly, and found himself before the Gates of Death, greeted by The Darkness, who offered him the opportunity to return to life, on the condition that he complete his mission to bind the Water Essence and return him to the Elven Elders. In that moment however, realising the plan of the The Darkness to empower the Elves with the power of multiple Essences, before corrupting the Elders, Lief refused, so as to allow the Essence of Water to remain free. Lief passed beyond the gates, and the Essence of Fire took the opportunity to take take full-control of his mortal form as his soul left it. The Fire Essence greeted her brother, and together the two of them exploded out of the underwater cavern, collapsing the ceiling as they left to engage the Elven fleet on the water's surface. Seeing the two free essences bearing down on them, Gravar and Gavilar began retreating to the Fire Essence's chamber, intending to hold out until the Fire Essence returned to captivity, and they could use her power to return to Ulandar. In the underwater cavern, Tempis attacked Gerrin, in frustration for having ruined the party's plans once again. As the Tritons made their escaped from the cavern through the Kraken's pool, Gerrin attempted to make his escape, using the Seal of Draining to allow him to breathe. A struggle ensued between him and Tempis, the latter having given up all hope of surviving, and seeking only to make sure that Gerrin died with him. The struggle ended when Tempis, starved of oxygen, allowed himself to expire, hatred in his eyes as his vision faded, the dam of his body failing as electrical energy was unleashed in an enormous torrent that exploded outwards from the underwater cavern, chasing after Gerrin and Waxillion, who had come back to try and help the human. The two barely managed to escape, as the enormous explosion engulfed the cavern and trench. Gerrin briefly found hisemlf at the Gates of Death, where he was greeted by the Essence of Life, who instructed him to return to his body, and prepare for a final battle at the end of time, when the struggle between Light and Dark would finally end. Meanwhile, Lumen made his way back through the mock city, to the Triton ship the party had arrived on. Attempting to make his escape through the trench, he encountered the giant leviathan they party had narrowly avoided previously, who destroyed the ship on the ocean floor. Using his Light-spren to drive away the monster, Lumen made his way to the ocean's surface, and managed to make it to the Imperator just-in-time, as the Fire Essence's power returned to Elven captivity, and Gavilar completed the ritual to transport the Imperator back to Ulandar. Epilogue Without the support of the Imperator, the remains of the Elven force were quickly dispatched by the Tritons, with many Elves taken prisoner or killed in the fighting. The Tritons began the rebuilding process, under the direction of King Sagnus, with the Tritons having suffered terrible losses during the siege. The location of Gerrin is unknown. On Ulandar, the High Elder Gravar made his report to the other elders, noting that not all had been lost in the expedition, as they had retrieved a number of fascinating artifacts from the Cathedral of Darkness, including several manuscripts regarding ancients rituals. Lumen retired from active duty, his mind having been severely warped as he clung to the outside edge of the Imperator during the inter-planetary teleport.